Love Your Block 2024
Mayor Michelle Wu and the office of Civic Organizing invite you to Boston's annual Love Your Block Cleanups!
Join us for Boston's citywide beautification event sponsored by the Mayor’s Office of Civic Organizing. Engage in community service by leading or volunteering for cleanups in your neighborhood. Enhance streets, parks, and open spaces. Sign up to host a site or volunteer!
About Love your Block:
"Love Your Block" is an initiative of the City of Boston, orchestrated by the Office of Civic Organizing to foster community engagement and neighborhood beautification. This program, formally known as "Boston Shines," invites residents and local groups to come together in an effort to show our neighborhoods extra care collectively.
Every spring, Bostonians representing every neighborhood unite to showcase their community pride and commitment. Participating in "Love Your Block" offers a unique opportunity to connect with neighbors, enjoy the outdoors, and witness the tangible impact of collective action. It's an engaging way to contribute to our city's beauty, fostering a sense of belonging and joy among participants.
Saturday, April 6, 2024
Allston-Brighton | Back Bay | Beacon Hill | Fenway-Kenmore | Mission Hill | South Boston | West Roxbury
Friday, April 19, 2024
Downtown
Saturday, April 20, 2024
Bay Village | Charlestown | Chinatown | East Boston | Leather District | North End | South End | West End | Wharf District
Saturday, April 27, 2024
Dorchester | Hyde Park | Jamaica Plain | Mattapan | Mid-Dorchester | Roslindale | Roxbury
To make our cleanup efforts as efficient as possible we've updated our tool distribution process. This year, tools and cleanup tools will not be delivered directly to project sites. Instead, we ask that each participating site nominate a contact person responsible for collecting these tools from a centralized distribution point within their neighborhood prior to the cleanup date. Details of these centralized locations are provided below. Tool collection is scheduled from 9 - 10 a.m., with returns to the same location between 12 - 2 p.m.
Saturday, April 6, 2024
Allston-Brighton: BCYF Jackson/Mann, 500 Cambridge St.
Back Bay & Beacon Hill: BCYF Quincy, 885 Washington St.
Fenway-Kenmore: BCYF Tobin, 1481 Tremont St.
Mission Hill: BCYF Tobin, 1481 Tremont St.
South Boston: BCYF Curley, 1663 Columbia Rd.
West Roxbury: BCYF Roche, 1716 Centre St.
Saturday, April 20, 2024
Bay Village: BCYF Quincy, 885 Washington St.
Charlestown: BCYF Charlestown, 255 Medford St.
Chinatown | Downtown |Leather District: BCYF Quincy, 885 Washington St.
East Boston: BCYF Pino, 86 Boardman St.
North End: BPL North End, 25 Parmenter St.
South End: BCYF Blackstone, 50 W. Brookline St.
West End: BPL West End, 151 Cambridge St.
Wharf District: BYCF Condon, 200 D St.
Saturday, April 27, 2024
Dorchester: BCYF Leahy-Holloran, 1 Worrell St.
Jamaica Plain: BCYF Curtis Hall, 20 South St.
Hyde Park: BCYF Hyde Park, 1179 River St.
Mattapan: BCYF Gallivan, 61 Woodruff Way
Mid-Dorchester: BYCF Holland, 85 Olney St.
Roslindale: BPL Roslindale, 4246 Washington St.
Roxbury: BCYF Vine Street, 339 Dudley St.
We encourage groups with more than 4 participants to consider hosting their own site for the Love Your Block initiative. Hosting a site is a great way to maximize your group's impact and ensure a coordinated effort in beautifying our community.
- Identify a location:
- parks
- streets and sidewalks
- vacant lots, or
- other City-owned property.
- Choose a project:
- trash cleanup
- sidewalk and street cleanup
- park revitalization, or
- flower planting.
- Plan with a team:
- Talk to your neighbors and recruit interested residents to help plan your cleanup. Consider hosting a neighborhood meeting to discuss details and divide up responsibilities.
- Have a designated group leader to be the point of contact for Civic Organizing.
- Request tools and support:
- Use our form to submit your site request and request to borrow tools by March 22, 2024, at 5 P.M.
- The Office of Civic Organizing has the following tools available for neighborhood cleanups: gloves, trash pickers, brooms, rakes, big shovels, hand trowels, dust pans, sharps disposal containers, bags, and more.
- Based on your location, identify a spot for trash pickup:
- For streets and sidewalks: trash should be left curbside at an intersection identified in your sign-up form.
- For Boston Parks: trash should be next to park trash receptacles in a visible location from the road.
- For private property: use private dumpsters or normal private trash disposal for the location.
- Spread the word:
- Create a flyer that can be emailed, shared on social media, and printed out to be dropped on doorsteps.
- Recruit volunteers:
- Share the flyer with your network and invite neighbors to come join the cleanup.
- Invite local neighborhood associations and civic groups to come and to share the invitation with their members.
- If any volunteers sign up for your site using our general interest sign up form, we will send you their details ahead of time.
- Day of logistics:
- Please send your contact person to pick up the tools from the centralized hub in the neighborhood where the cleanup is happening. The pickup should occur between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. Also, ensure that volunteers arrive at the cleanup site early.
- Consider offering coffee, water, or refreshments for the volunteers and having a sign-up form so that you can follow up with them later. Please ask volunteers about any allergies or dietary restrictions.
- Assign groups of 2 - 3 people to focus on different areas or different tasks.
- Be sure to count the tools before and after the cleanup to ensure that no items are lost or left behind.
- Return the tools to the centralized hub between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m.
Looking to get involved with a cleanup being organized in your neighborhood? Register as a volunteer, either individually or with a group if you do not have a preferred site in mind. We will thoughtfully match individual volunteers or groups with teams hosting a site, taking into account their neighborhood preferences and/or selected dates.
If you are part of a group with more than 4 participants, please consider hosting your own site for the Love Your Block initiative.
